Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; May 9, 2017)

Just four days before his next film hits screens, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma faced a setback in a copyright infringement case filed by scriptwriter Nilesh Girkar. The Bombay High Court asked RGV to give Girkar due credit for Sarkar 3 apart from pending fee of Rs 6.20 lakh.

On January 30, Girkar, who has worked with Varma in the past, had moved the High Court claiming that he had been denied credit for the film’s script. He also alleged non-payment of the full amount — Rs 8 lakh — as promised by the filmmaker.

Later, on February 12, RGV was directed to deposit balance payment of Rs 6.20 lakh with the court as settlement. On March 17, the court asked Varma to hold a private screening of film for Girkar to determine whether his script has indeed been put to use.

Girkar’s lawyer Rahul Ajatshatru says, “After the screening, we made a comparison chart and filed it in court on March 24 as directed. The opposite party was given five weeks to submit their arguments against our claims, but they failed to give any response.”

He adds the film’s opening credits will mention, ‘Based on a story written by Nilesh Girkar’. The lawyer adds the court also took into consideration that theirs wasn’t a lastminute plea to stall the film’s release. “Initially, the court was planning to give a stay order on the film, but later Varma’s lawyers agreed to give opening credits to my client apart from the monetary compensation.”

When we reached out to Varma, he simply said, “We have to follow what the court has ordered.”

Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; March 21, 2015)

Writer Jyoti Kapoor has moved the Bombay High Court demanding a stay on the release of Kunal Kohli’s Phir Se, reiterating allegations that the film, slated for a May release, has been influenced by a story she once discussed with him. The case is likely to come up for hearing on March 25.

Lawyer Rahul Ajatshatru says, “Yes, Jyoti Kapoor has filed a case against Kunal Kohli and others asking for restraining release of the film Phir Se.” The Daawat-E-Ishq co-writer had, in November last year, accused Kohli of plagiarism.

Through media reports on the film, Jyoti found the plotline was eerily similar to a story she had narrated to Kohli in January 2013. He, however, denied the allegations but was asked to put his film’s shoot on hold till the case was resolved. The FWA, which sent both scripts to experts for comparison, ruled in Jyoti’s favour.

Producer Trilok Malhotra, who is currently making a film on Jyoti’s script, had also had filed a complaint with Indian Motion Picture Producers Association. After this, a dispute settlement committee was called by the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees wherein Malhotra and Kohli were called to resolve the issue.

Despite repeated attempts, Kohli did not revert to our text messages or e-mails.